H&M expands store plans for Seattle area

Clothing retailer H&M will open two more Seattle-area stores than previously thought: one at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila, the other at 520 Pike St. in downtown Seattle, where it will replace a Kenneth Cole store.

H&M also plans a 19,000-square-foot store at University Village, as announced in August. All three are scheduled to open this fall.

The retailer will occupy 25,000 square feet across two floors in a newly developed area of Southcenter mall, as well as 16,000 square feet at downtown's 520 Pike Tower.

No word yet on whether Kenneth Cole will reopen elsewhere downtown. A spokesman for the company could not be reached, and a representative of the tower's New York-based owner, Tishman Speyer, declined to comment.

Based in Sweden, H&M has been called the fashion world's equivalent of Ikea because it sells trendy yet inexpensive clothes. It made its U.S. debut in 2000 in New York and operates 146 stores nationwide.